Our mission is to provide a historically accurate educational experience of the trolley era, through the interpretation, preservation, restoration, and operation of an electric railway
Our mission is to provide a historically accurate educational experience of the trolley era, through the interpretation, preservation, restoration, and operation of an electric railway
The Connecticut Electric Railway Association, Inc. is the owner and operator of the Connecticut Trolley Museum. Founded in October 1940, it is the nation's oldest incorporated organization dedicated to the preservation of the trolley era. The organization is led by a board of directors elected by the membership.
All major buildings and the museum's center of operations are located on a 17-acre facility adjacent to State Route 140 in East Windsor. The right of way is a 3.2-mile portion of the Rockville branch of the Hartford & Springfield Street Railway Company. Void of all track, the property was purchased when the organization was formed in 1940. Over the years, our volunteers have been able to build not only 1.5 miles of track and the associated overhead wire for power distribution, but all of the yard and storage track, power substation, storage barns, and restoration shop.
The Connecticut Trolley Museum has over 70 pieces of rail equipment dating back to 1869. During your visit, you can see historic passenger and freight trolley cars, interurban cars, elevated railway cars, passenger and freight railroad cars, service cars, locomotives, and a variety of other equipment from railways around Connecticut. You will also find examples from Brooklyn, Boston, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Springfield, Lynchburg, Montreal, and even Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.